Nick Fish

The Great Blue Heron has been Portland's official city bird since 1986. And next week is Great Blue

In 1986 Mike Houck approached then mayor Bud Clark to seek recognition of the Great Blue Heron as Portland's official city bird. Within two weeks of Clark's signature "whoop, whoop!" Portland City Council had adopted the heron as the city's icon for natural resource protection and access to nature in the city. This week Bob Sallinger, Director of the Audubon Society of Portland's Conservation Program; Mike Houck, Executive Director of the Urban Greenspaces Institute; and Nick Fish, the new City of Portland Parks Commissioner join Locus Focus host Barbara Bernstein to celebrate Great Blue Heron Week and the city's commitment to ensuring this majestic bird continues to share the city with its human inhabitants. The program highlights events and field trips for this year's annual Great Blue Heron Week which runs from May 27th through Sunday morning, June 7th when a flotilla of kayaks and canoes will circumnavigate Ross Island, home to one of the region's many heron nesting colonies.